Chicken and Blueberry Crunch

Remember that time I stopped blogging for like...3 years?

Woops.

Anyway, in that amount of time I had some major life changes!  I moved to a different country, got a new job, and stopped cooking as much as I used to.  I missed the blog though, so I want to keep up with it, maybe just more sporadically!  You missed me too, right? RIGHT???

For my glorious return, I decided to try and copy one of my favorite meals from a restaurant called iQ Food Co. that I frequent for lunch.  It actually turned out pretty well!   Here was the original version:  http://iqfoodco.com/menu/type/hotboxes/blueberry-crunch/

Ingredients you'll need (makes enough for 2 people):
- 1 chicken breast, pounded thin
- 1 cup of brown rice
- 1 apple
- about 6 mini carrots
- a handful of blueberries
- a handful of candied pecans, or sunflower seeds...or any type of nut really
- a 1/4 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
- salt and pepper

For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon of honey

I think that's it!

First things first, we'll need to bake some chicken.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.  Line a shallow pan with parchment paper, and throw the chicken in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear.  Should be pretty quick if it was pounded thin.

While that's working away, you'll want to julienne the apples and carrots, and get the pecans, feta and blueberries ready to go.  Colorful, no?

You can also whip up the dressing.  Just whisk the honey, oil, balsamic and dijon mustard with a fork until completely combined.  Give it a taste, if it seems out of whack you can mess with the proportions a bit.  I like the dressing to be pretty strong since it's going to be what actually flavors your rice and chicken.  I also used ground mustard, but I think the regular Dijon would be better as far as texture goes.  You can't win them all.

You'll also want to get started on the brown rice!  Just follow the directions on the package, I was just using the minute rice so it took about 10 minutes for everything to be ready.  

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Ok!  Once the chicken is done, chop it up into bite sized chunks, like so....

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Perfect!  Now, putting everything together.  Put the rice on the bottom of a bowl, and place the chicken on top of the rice.  Laugh at Mac (the golden retriever in the pic below) and give him a piece of chicken because he's trained you well.

Now add all the fresh fruit and carrots, topping everything off with the feta and chopped up pecans!

Last, but certainly not least, drizzle everything with the balsamic dressing.

Voila!  I usually attack this by mixing everything up into one big mess so I get a bit of everything in each bite.  It's so crunchy and satisfying. The sweet and tangy dressing just makes it so delicious. Also everything is pretty basic so I feel pretty good about eating this kind of stuff :)

Enjoy!

Courtzilla

Maple Apple Crisp

Nothing says summer more than fresh fruit, baked with a crispy top and served with ice cream. Sounds nice doesn't it?

What's in season. Peaches! Peaches are in season. I've got a few let's use those.

Wait... what's that in the back of the crisper there... how long have I had these apples? Apple crisp it is.

Still, totally divine. Oh wait... no ice cream... maple cream sauce? Yeah that'll do in a pinch.

For as thrown together as this was, I devoured it in record time. And it's totally healthy! I mean... it's got fruit in it?

You'll need (for 2 servings)
- 1 apple
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 1/4 cup of quick oats
- 2 tbsp of sugar
- 2 tbsp of brown sugar (I know I know, these are pitifully small bits, but I'm just feeding me here, ok?)
- 2 tbsp of butter
- squirt oh lemon juice
- pinch of salt
- drizzle of maple syrup... or the fake stuff. I'll look the other way.

Ugh. I want to eat this every day for the rest of my life.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To begin, take two apples. Old apples. Of different races. It's cool, they'll get along.


Peel two apples, until they look naked and alone.


Slice up one of your apples and put it in a small oven safe dish.


Realize one apple takes up a lot of room. Proceed to eat the reject apple.

Drizzle the apples with lemon juice to prevent them from browning.


EXTREME ANGLE SHOT!!

Then, drizzle with some maple syrup, and stir around until everything commingles. Fun word.



Now! For the crisp.

Mix together your flour, oats, sugar, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.


Now, cut up your butter into tiny cubes. You want the butter to be cold, that way it'll still be in little chunks when it goes into the oven, and will distribute pockets of love all over the top of the dish.


Mix your butter into your flour mix with a fork or a pastry cutter, until it resembles coarse sand... or something like this. Chunky is good, as long as everything is mixed together.


Evenly sprinkle over the top of your apples.


Now cover it with foil, and pop it into the oven for 10 -15 minutes.

While your waiting.. if you're feeling really naughty... and you've been surviving on tortellini for a day and a half...

Take a splash of cream, and put it in a sauce pan over the stove. Heat it up on low, and add a bit of maple syrup to it, like so...



Wait like 5 minutes until that cooks down a bit, then put it in the fridge so it thickens. Trust me. It's better than ice cream.

Once your 10 - 15 minutes is up, take out the crisp and uncover it. Put it back in the oven for another 2o minutes.

Then, when it looks like this:



Take a ginormous spoonful, and put it in a bowl.


You won't believe the apples with the maple syrup. It's insanely good. And then when you add some of that cream sauce?



Let's just say this didn't last too long. Good thing this was my dinner... ok ok I ate some tortellini too, so kill me.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla